The stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

John E. Terhune's No. 246 Fifth Avenue

A blank scar between the second and third floors testifies to a lost cornice or balcony.

The stretch of Fifth Avenue just below 34th
Street was lined with brick or brownstone mansions in the decade following the
Civil War.No. 246, at the southwest
corner of 28th Street, was home to the aged bachelor John Quentin
Jones.

Jones, who was president of Chemical National Bank, had
built his six-story brick mansion around 1857.The property stretched westward on 28th Street where Jones’
commodious carriage house stood.Immensely
wealthy, for years he shared the house with his sisters, the widowed Mrs.
Frances Rogers and Mary S. Jones. Then, “since
the death of his sisters Mr. Jones had resided in his great mansion alone with
his servants,” said The New York Times in 1878.

The unmarried millionaire died of an apparent heart attack in his Fifth Avenue mansion.

On January 1, 1878 he “was in a cheerful mood and ate his
dinner with a relish at 5 o’clock, and at 7:30 o’clock he suddenly died”
reported The Times.Jones was 74 years
old and had only one surviving relative, a younger brother Joshua.The newspaper described him as “a gentlemen
of leisure and cultivation.”

Joshua Jones moved into the Fifth Avenue mansion.Unlike his brother, who had arduously worked throughout
his life, he preferred to live off his wealth as a gentleman.When he died in March 1888, his funeral was
held in the mansion.New Yorkers may
have been shocked to find he left no charitable donations; but left his estate
to his already-wealthy cousins.“It is
understood that Mr. Jones had made no public bequests of any importance, but
has left his millions to be divided among the member of his family, who are
mostly in good circumstances financially,” noted The New York Times on March
25.

By now the Fifth Avenue neighborhood had drastically changed
as New York’s wealthiest citizens moved northward, away from the tide of
commerce.On November 17, 1888 the Real
Estate Record and Builders’ Guide announced that the “handsome residence No.
246 5th avenue, southwest corner of 28th street, with the
stable and lot adjoining at No. 2 West 28th street,” was scheduled
to be sold at auction the following week.Among those bidding that afternoon was Marietta Reed Stevens, who had
lived next door at No. 244 for years.

Preferring to be called Mrs. Paran Stevens, Marietta had
taken over the management of her husband’s vast holdings, including several
hotels, upon his death in 1872.Although
she would not move uptown to the white marble palace at No. 1 East 57th Street until 1892, the shrewd businesswoman saw the handwriting on the wall.

The New York Times reported that “Mrs. Paran Stevens, one of
the social leaders in New York City,” had purchased the Jones residence and
stable for $229,000—in the neighborhood of $5.8 million in 2015 dollars.She then contributed to the march of
commerce which was destroying her residential neighborhood.

Through her agent, Joseph Thompson, she commissioned
architect John E. Terhune to design a replacement structure.Starting with the stable end of the property,
the six-story structure was completed in two parts; both being completed in
1889.Terhune’s Romanesque Revival structure was a captivating
blend of brick, stone and iron.Heavy
brick corbels above the fifth floor arched openings added a fortress-like
effect; while angled cast iron bays set with three-story arches gave an
up-to-date flair.Terhune gave a nod to
the recently-popular Aesthetic and Queen Anne movements with a row of terra
cotta tiles above the windows of the top floor, and with sunflower-shaped tie
rods.Other iron tie rods, between the
third and fourth floors, took on an elaborate backwards S shape and, like their
floral counterparts, were as much decorative as functional.

This section of the avenue may have been becoming
commercialized; yet it was still Fifth Avenue.The early tenants of No. 246 were high-end dealers, including the
jewelry store of John Mason.(Any
relationship to the John Q. and Joshua Mason family is unclear.)

The exclusive nature of Mason’s operation was evidenced on
March 11, 1891 when he displayed the South African diamond he had purchased
five months earlier.Weighing in at 83
carats, it had a yellow cast.The price
tag on the diamond was $5,000—about $135,000 today.Two months later Mason would have a salesman,
William F. Little arrested for stealing $700 worth of jewelry from the store.

Upstairs were offices and other businesses—including the
architectural offices of William Schickel & Co. and of Thomas Henry
Poole.While here Poole began designs for the Holy
Name of Jesus Roman Catholic Church at West 96th Street and
Amsterdam Avenue, and the Roman Catholic Chapel of St. John in White Plains.

The photographic studio of Davis & Sanford was here as
early as 1893.The firm specialized in
photographs of military, theatrical and political figures.When Lt. Colonel Andrew S. Rowan visited New
York after his notable service in the Spanish-American War, he made the
expected stop at No. 246 Fifth Avenue to have his portrait taken.

Davis & Sanford were known for society portraits like the above of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and his new bride Eleanor at a Vanderbilt Ball -- from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYW4D9NY4&SMLS=1&RW=1280&RH=623

There was at least one manufacturing firm in the building at
the time—that of garment maker E. M. Emery.Conditions for tailors and sewers in the 1890s were brutal, especially
during the hot summer months.In the
heat of July 1893 The Evening World reported “The strike at E. M. Emery’s shop,
246 Fifth avenue, against the sweating system, still continues.Despite occasional labor problems, the firm
would remain in the building into the 1920s.

The year that E. M. Emery’s employees went on strike was an
especially troubling one.The Financial
Panic of 1893 capped a two-year period of depression and was felt by even the
most upscale of retailers.The ground
floor was also home to Obadiah L. Sypher who operated Sypher & Co.,
antiques and fine arts, here.While Sypher’s
paintings and furniture decorated the homes of Manhattan’s wealthiest citizens,
even he felt the pinch.

On September 8, 1894, he commented to The New York Times
that the economy seemed to be improving.“People are once more inclined to buy expensive things,” he said.“For instance, a man does not say: ‘I’d like
to buy that, but I can’t afford to.’”He
added “Our business is the pulse of the people more than any other, because we
deal in so many rarities and luxuries.”

The following year Sypher had competition in the
building.In December 1895 Herbert H.
Hallett opened his fine arts gallery in No. 246.Upon opening he offered paintings by English
artists including Constable and Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Obadiah L. Sypher had apparently understated the effects of
the financial depression.On New Year’s
Eve 1896 he was in serious trouble.Not
only did he admit to owing Henry Lesinsky about $85,000 in loans to keep his business
afloat; it was discovered he had defrauded the Government out of thousands of
dollars in customs duty.

The news was shocking to Fifth Avenue residents.Sypher had taken over the business from his
employer in 1865 and, according to The Times “he has been a large importer of
such goods for some of the wealthiest and most fashionable families of New
York, and some of his importations of reproductions of famous work in the
palaces of Europe brought large prices.”

District Attorney Olcott told reporters “Mr. Sypher’s
business had suffered from the general depression in trade, and the past season
was not as good as he expected.”It was
an ignoble end to the respected dealer’s career.

Mrs. Paran Stevens still owned the building as the century
drew to a close.She improved the ground
floor retail space in 1899 when she added a show window on the 28th
Street side.

Among the most colorful of the tenants in the building was William Cunningham Deane-Tanner who opened his English Antiques Shop around the
turn of the century.Married to the
actress Ethel Mae Harrison, he gave himself a yearly salary of nearly $30,000
according to Sidney D. Kirkpatrick in his 1986 A Cast of Killers.

His highly varied career had included being ''a timekeeper
for the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska; a night clerk at the Inter Ocean Hotel in
Cheyenne, Wyoming; a prospector in Colorado and Alaska.”In 1908 the polished and charming antiques
dealer left his wife and daughter; and in 1912 he left for Hollywood where he
changed his name to William Desmond Taylor and became a well-known motion
picture director.

In 1922 he was murdered in his Los Angeles bungalow.When police arrived studio executives were
busy burning papers in the fireplace and actress Mabel Normand was reportedly
scurrying around trying to find love letters.The murderer was never identified; but the scandal ruined the careers of
stars Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter.

In the meantime famed photographer Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr.
purchased half of the interest in Davis & Sanford in 1905.The esteemed firm became the Davis and
Eickermeyer studio.Eickemeyer became
famous for his portraits of the carriage trade, including those of Evelyn Nesbit.

Joining E. M. Emery making apparel in the building was A. F.
Miller ladies’ “habitmakers.”The firm
catered to wealthy set, creating “riding habits, costumes and outdoor coats.”In 1906 its managers, Shulte and
Petruzzi purchased the business.When
the fashionable Horse Show was held at Madison Square Garden that year, the
New-York Tribune noted that “many correct riding habits for the Horse Show…have
been made by J. G. Muller, Schulte & Petruzzi.”

While the clothing created at No. 246 Fifth Avenue may have
been elegant and costly; the conditions of the workers did not improve.On July 15, 1912 23-year old worker Patrick
Graves was overcome by the heat and had to be removed from the building.

Sharing the ground floor with art and antiques galleries in
the first years of the 20th century was the haberdashery of E. A.
Newell.Founded in 1863, it was touted
in a 1913 advertisement as having “catered only to the most exclusive trade in
Men’s Furnishings.”The ad continued,
saying the shop “at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street has always had for
its clientele the best-dressed men in
New York.”A morning coat suit or dinner coat suit could
be purchased here in 1913 for $60—a significant $1,500 today.

As the Great Depression neared, the neighborhood around No.
246 was less upscale.A disturbing trend
of shady characters in the building began in 1927 when accountant Charles
Drimba was arrested for forging $40,000 in checks.He had been fired from his job as night
auditor at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel six blocks away in December 1926 for
stealing cigars.

While he quickly got a new job in No. 246; his theft
launched an investigation at the hotel.An inside forgery ring headed by Drimba was uncovered.In his desk at No. 246 Fifth Avenue detectives
found $20,000 in forged restaurant checks.

In 1930 the principals of the brokerage firm of Dodge &
Co., Inc. were arrested for fraud.Albert Contento and Joseph M. Kurtz (who had two aliases) were arrested
in April that year for offering $1 million in stock of the Ford Motor of
England Company—a firm that did not exist—at $18 a share.At the time of their arrest they had swindled
the public out of more than $42,000 in one week from their $35-a-month office.

The bad press for the building continued the following year
when Henry C. Cliff was arrested in July 1931 for “use of the mails in
advertising obscene books and pictures.”His mail order pornography business went under the name of the Album of
the Month Club.

The building would become home to other fly-by-night
operations, like the Ornamental Concrete Institute that leased space for its
mail order business here in 1932.An advertisement
in Popular Science promised “Now—you can learn how to make one-piece cement
Fireplaces in any color effect or design!”

The Craft Arts company offered “drawings and photographs of
warplanes and battleships” by mail order, and the New York Publishing Service
offered to critique stories, articles and books by aspiring authors.

Phony real estate operator Albert Branin was jailed in 1936 “on
charges of defrauding elderly men and women,” according to The New York Times.One of his victims was 86-year old Robert De
Mille, cousin of director Cecile B. De Mille.The retired builder lost $22,000 to Branin and "it was charged that
in one instance he was induced to pay $2,500 in a deal supposedly involving the
purchase of twenty Boardwalk lots in Atlantic City."

Things did not improve when on
June 19, 1945 William F. Kelly, head of the Kellycraft Hosiery Company was
arrested.He rented “desk space” in the
building and went door-to-door in downtown offices selling “nylon-like” stockings
to office girls desperate for hosiery during the war years.The problem was that Kelly did not
manufacture stockings.

After the girls had paid for their
hosiery, and then never received them, Kelly was charged with 52 petit
larcenies and five counts of passing worthless checks on 57 victims.The New York Times remarked he "caused
anguish to hundreds of girl stenographers in the financial district last Spring
when he failed to deliver” the stockings.

Other questionable businesses in
the building at the time were the General Products company whose nebulous
advertisements offered “Become Independent! Have your own business!Any locality, either sex.Experience not necessary!” and the S. Benko
firm which would send “two bulletins” for the price of one dollar telling of “unlimited
opportunities” as a manufacturer’s representative.

By the last quarter of the 20th
century the No. 246 said squarely in the Oriental Rug District.In the 1980s it was home to the Cahatalbash
Rug Co. Upstairs the new advertising
agency Frnznick & Custatis moved in, reflective of the improved reputations
of the tenant list.But the structure
had been sorely neglected and its architectural integrity was hidden under a
slather of cream colored, peeling paint.

photo by Beyond My Ken

Finally in 2011 the owner, Argus
Realty 246 LLC lost the property in foreclosure after it defaulted on $14.5
million in debts.In December 2013 HH
Realty Equities paid $19 million for the building in an internet auction.The new owner initiated a massive renovation
and restoration which brought the exterior back to its former attractiveness.

2 comments:

Mrs. Paran Stevens is worthy of a posting of her own. Notoriously difficult and bad tempered, she waged a never ending battle with the trustees of her husband's estate throughout her long widowhood, over matters large and small, the Leona Helmsley of a kinder, gentler age.